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MOEA Makes Major Move in Seattle to Build Cooperation Platforms

2017-09-08

The 2017 “Taiwan-U.S.A. Industrial Cooperation Mission” led by Deputy Director General Yu, Cheng-Wei of the Industrial Development Bureau, Ministry of Economic Affairs arrived in Seattle, capital of Washington State on August 28 local time. The delegation paid a visit to the state government and signed two memorandums of understanding (MOUs) with the Trade Development Alliance of Greater Seattle (TDA) and the CleanTech Alliance, aiming at constructing a platform for cooperation in smart machinery, Internet of Things (IoT), clean energy, and the commercialization of innovation that would catalyze more business opportunities in the near future.

Deputy Director General Yu stated during the visit, the state of Washington has a cutting edge advantage of housing a world-leading aerospace industry with more than 1,740 companies to form the biggest cluster of aerospace in a global scale and over 14,000 IoT and ICT companies, including Microsoft and Amazon headquarters. Entrepreneurship flourishes in this area. At present, Taiwan is the fifth trade partner of Washington with bilateral trade amounting to US$4.9 billion in 2016. Seattle is the hub of transportation, manufacturing, commerce and service in the west Pacific region. The Taiwan government is actively promoting smart machinery, IoT and entrepreneurship (Asian Silicon Valley), green energy technology, biotech and other industrial innovation programs, the signing of the MOUs is done through the model of “to build up public platform for the privates to perform” to link up with Washington's industrial clusters. It is believed that the signing of the MOU will open a new chapter in bilateral industrial development.

The party from Taiwan participating in the signing included NEXCOM International, Sinbond Electronics, GoTech and Taiwan-USA Industrial Cooperation Promotion Office (TUSA) MOEA. According to Sean Wang, CEO of TUSA, top U.S. cluster of IoT, smart machinery, aerospace technology and e-commerce are all in the Greater Seattle region. By leveraging Taiwan's superior strength in ICT, the two sides can cooperate in developing technologies and products in sensing, recognition, cyber security, avionics, augmented reality, virtual reality and mixed reality. This will also facilitate expansion of Taiwan businesses in U.S. markets. The number of venture capital investments in Washington State is only second to California in western United States, while Greater Seattle is one of the most dynamic areas in terms of starting new businesses.

Founded in 1990, TDA is one of the key international organizations in the Greater Seattle area. It promotes international cooperation and businesses for member companies and assists foreign companies wanting to do business with their counterparts in the Greater Seattle area. Boeing, Microsoft, Amazon, and Wells Fargo are all members of TDA. It is expected the signing of the MoU will foster exchange and cooperation with Taiwan in the fields of smart machinery (aerospace applications), IoT and innovation commercialization. CleanTech Alliance was set up in 2007. It now has more than 300 member companies. CleanTech Alliance is dedicated to promoting development of smart grid, wind power, solar power and sustainability in the northwest region.

According to Customs Administration, Ministry of Finance, Taiwan exported a total of US$1.53 billion of products related to smart machinery, aerospace, IoT, and green energy to the United States in 2016. This amount is expected to reach US$3.9 billion in 2023 with an average compound growth rate of 17%. By linking up with the two largest alliances in Seattle, Taiwan will be able to further expand the U.S. and global markets.